After Libya Shootdown, U.S. Robo-Copter Will Weaponize

America’s only combat casualty in Libya had no way of defending itself, when it was taken out by a heavy anti-aircraft weapon in late June. But that’s about to change. After spending the last few months chasing pirates in the Indian Ocean, watching over troops in Afghanistan, and flying into a pro-regime stronghold in Libya, the U.S. Navy’s Fire Scout robotic helicopter is poised to start test-firing rockets. By the end of next year, the drone should be fully weaponized, and ready to shoot back if it gets attacked.

It’s another step forward for the Fire Scout, the once star-crossed robo-copter that’s quickly becoming a favorite tool of the Navy, despite years of uneven history and despite a recent Pentagon test report which said the drone was missing its missions as often as it was completing them.

On June 21st, the U.S.S. Halyburton dispatched one of its two Fire Scouts to a known stronghold of forces loyal to Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi. The unmanned helo flew over the hostile zone, snapping video as it went and beaming the footage back to the ship. The Fire Scouts had flown as many as 15 such missions over Libya before. But this one was different. This time, the video suddenly stopped. The robo-copter’s wreckage was quickly paraded on Al Jazeera.

An inquiry later concluded that the whirly-bot had been shot down. Today, Rear Admiral Bill Shannon, the Navy officer in charge of unmanned aviation, added a bit more detail, noting that a heavy anti-aircraft weapon brought the 2,000-pound ‘bot out of the sky.

“This was not small-arms fire. There were large weapons in the area,” he told reporters at the Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International conference in Washington. “Looking at the intel, there wasn’t anything we would’ve put in there that wouldn’t have been at high risk.”

That ended the most dangerous mission so far for the Fire Scout fleet. But it’s not the only combat patrol the robotic rotocraft has conducted, of late. In Afghanistan, three Fire Scouts flew 950 hours out of a remote base in Kunduz province over the last seven months. Lately, they’ve spent more time in the air, logging north of 400 hours per month, while a team of 20 Northrop Grumman contractors and seven sailors fly and maintain the vehicles.

It’s a big crew, especially at a relatively small forward operating base. And the Fire Scout only flies for five hours at a time — peanuts compared to the near day-long missions of the Reaper robotic plane. But, unlike the Reaper, the Fire Scout doesn’t need a big runway to take off or land. Which makes it more attractive to commanders at somewhat remote outposts.

Or on ships. Another pair of Fire Scouts, on board the Halyburton, saw action from the Indian Ocean to the Straits of Hormuz to the southern Mediterranean. The copters tracked suspected pirates, and watched over a Yemeni fishing boat that had been stranded at sea for 10 days, until the Halyburton’s crew could come over to help. All in all, the drones ran 126 missions and flew for 436 hours.

Exactly how many of those missions were productive is a matter of some dispute. According to a damning report from the Defense Department’s director of operational test and evaluation, the Fire Scouts only managed to complete half of their missions while on the Halyburton, and came up short in all 10 of their trial runs at home before the copters were shipped off to Afghanistan. In one particularly unnerving incident, the drone’s remote pilot accidentally started the self-destruct countdown counter with a single keystroke.

Shannon said that incident — and the whole report — were overblown. The drone was never in danger of committing hari-kiri. Yes, the Fire Scout still has issues with the data links between the copter and its operators. But the report’s standard for success and failure is all wrong. A relatively minor screwup could lead to the mission being classified as a complete flop.

“If I’m out on a five-hour mission, and on the return home, there’s a 10-minute drop-out in the video — to call that an incomplete mission, that defies common sense,” he added.

Shannon’s confident enough in the copters that the Navy has asked Congress for the money to nearly double its order of Fire Scouts, to 57. The Navy could provide an additional 28 upgraded Fire Scouts to Special Operations Command over the next three years. And in the next few weeks, the Fire Scout — first envisioned as an armed drone, back in the late 90s — is going to start firing weapons again. The first tests will be with the laser-guided Griffin missile, which carries at 13-pound warhead. Trials with the 2.75-inch rockets of the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System are expected to follow. 18 months from now, if all goes according to plan, the Fire Scout will be once again on combat missions — this time, fully armed.